Importing Documents

Updated Sep 23, 2026Article

URL#

json

POST https://{{client}}.api.451.io/v2/users/documents/import

Body Schema#

json

    "file" : <file>
    "match_key" : ""
    "match_value" : ""
    "folder" :""
    "tags[]" : ""
    "tags[]" : ""
    "document_type" : ""
    "context[application_guid]" : ""
    "context[registration_id]" : ""

"file": <file> - (required) The file content to be uploaded.
"match_key" : "" - (optional) The attribute used to match the user with the given value. Use a key from the Matching Attribute Key table.
"match_value" : (optional) The value to match the user by the given attribute key. If the key/value are not provided, it will either be put in the specific folder or the all files document bin.
"folder" : "guid" - (optional) Folder guid matching an existing documents folder.
"tags[]" : "guid" - (optional) Tag guid matching an existing documents tag. Can be repeater to add multiple tags at once. You can change it to be “Tags[#]” if multiple keys are not allowed.
“document_type” : “guid” - (optional) Document type guid. See Tips and Tricks for finding a guid.
"context[application_guid]": "guid" - (optional) Value to be set on File context. Links to a specific application guid.
"context[registration_id]": "string" - (optional) Value to be set on File context. Links for a specific application user ID.

Tips#

When using Postman, the values are sent in the body under “Form-Data”. This is different than importing and exporting which uses “raw” and json to send post the request.
In Postman “tags[]” can be repeated as a Key/Value pair. However, if using python, for example, and creating a dictionary, each “tags[]” needs to be different. You’ll want to include a a number inside the []. (For example - {”tags[1]”: “client.taxonomy.201942”, “tags[2]”: “client.taxonomy.201948”},....} )

Matching Attribute Keys#

Attribute	Key
Attribute	Key
Act Id	act:id
Campus Nexus	campus_nexus:id
Coalition Id	coalition:id
College Board Id	college_board:id
Common App Id	commonapp:id
Encoura	encoura:id
Ethos Id	ethos:id
Historic Id	historic:id
Parchment Id	parchment:id
Salesforce Id	salesforce:id
School Email	school-email
School Id	school:id
Search Id	search:id
Scoir	scoir:id
Spark Id	spark:id
User Email	user:email_address
User Id	user:id, element:id

Example 1 - Document Import

json

Request:
POST https://{{client}}.{{api}}/v2/users/documents/import

URL parameters:
{{client}}: Assigned client subdomain.
{{api}}: URL of the Element451 API. "api.451.io" for Production API.

Request headers:
Feature: Feature token for that client
Authorization: Bearer API Key
Content-Type: 'multipart/form-data' (Postman automatically adds this). 

Request body/form-data parameters:

    "file" => <File>
    "match_key" => "user:email_address"
    "folder" => "client.taxonomies.451"
    "tags[]" => "client.taxonomies.452"
    "tags[]" => "client.taxonomies.453"
    "context[application_guid]" => "client.applications.451"
    "context[registration_id]" => "4mzsxbue"


Expected Response:
Status 201
{
    "data": [
        {
            "name": "pdf-test.pdf",
            "result": "uploaded",
            "file": {
                "guid": "client.files.28969",
                "name": "pdf-test.pdf",
                "size": 20597,
                "extension": "pdf",
                "mime_type": "application/pdf",
                "created_at": "2021-12-13T18:38:14+00:00"
            }
        }
    ]
}